January 17, 2002

"Lara Croft"

I've not played the computer game that is the basis of Lara Croft, Tombraider, but Laura has. I vaguely recall looking over her shoulder when she was playing it, to see a full breasted, jiggly when running, athletic female leaping and hopping all over, battling the beasties.

The movie has kept that large breasted quality, in its full-lipped actress who plays Lara with sultry determination. Nothing, not even the cold of Siberia, keeps her from hiding those beauties. Ah, but it's all in fun. The movie IS a visual delight, and not just for those of you who enjoy looking at Lora's feminine charms. That golden round 'key' device, what a lovely thing that would be to sit on a shelf or coffee table and look pretty.

I'm sure somebody's got it on on their coffee table, prize from the movie. What the hey! Lara sees her deceased father again, and manages to save the world from destruction, all the while having a hell of a good time. It's a hoot!

(A fun bit of movie trivia for you, I've learned from a friend that the man (Jon Voight) who played Lara's father happens to be the real life father of the actress (Angelina Jolie) who played Lara.)

My, I've watched a lot of movies these past few years, whether on the big screen, or in the comfort of our own home. I had some shots of the lovely wallpaintings at the Main Street Cinema here, and what to do with them? Ah, ha! Gather them, along with links to reviews of movies I've seen over the years. It's the nice beginning of a page. There's still a few I've written that I've not found. Quite daunting to search over five years of writing, you know. But I've found a way, I have. I just plug the movie name, along with 'aztriad', our domain name, into Google, and >>POOF!<<, the link shows up. Now if I can just recall all the movies I've seen . . .

 

January 19, 2002

"Judged By His Deeds"

What made me decide to pull up Starnet, and have a look at the news in Tucson, I'm not sure this morning. Was it a bit of guiding fate, I don't know. But the bold headline news today is very relevant to me:

Doty guilty in guard's death

In March of 2000, I reported to you dear readers that a friend of ours was gunned down at his security job that month. The murderer didn't get much money for his efforts, only twenty one dollars. The insanity of it astounded me. This week, his killer was convicted of the crime. I learned the killer did not murder merely for the money, for he had other motives.

Not only this, also the NAME of this killer rang a bell with me. I'd mentioned him before in my journals several years before. He, a self-proclaimed satanist, was in prison at the time, and went to federal court to accuse prison officials he had been unfairly persecuted for his religious beliefs. The future killer proclaimed he had a constitutional right to worship Satan behind bars and to employ the necessary religious items so he could elicit the powers of underworld demons and gods. ''The items in dispute included black and white candles, incense, a tapestry rug depicting a goat's head and spell-casting books like the satanic bible and Necronomicon - books that glory selfishness, brutality and human sacrifice.''

In the forum Starnet had at that time, a debate was raging heavy. One reader said Satanism should be outlawed. I didn't go that far, but felt ''certainly prisoners shouldn't be allowed it. They've proven by their actions that their worship of power and selfishness have made them unfit for society. Whether or not Satanism is used as encouragement for acts of brutality remains to be seen. But I have seen their websites, and they do glorify power-seeking and selfishness. Judge them by their deeds.''

I didn't know in 1997 WHAT REMAINED TO BE SEEN. The evidence that was five years in the coming would prove that THIS MAN'S Satanism WAS used for acts of brutality. Oh, no, the killer did not murder for the measly twenty one bucks he received as a side 'benefit'.

''Prosecutors said Towers, 55, was killed as part of a satanic ritual by Doty, who believed he could attain MAGICAL POWERS if he killed a Caucasian during the spring equinox. The equinox occurred on the date Towers was killed.''

(from Starnet story, underline and caps mine)

The jurors found "overwhelming circumstantial and physical evidence." to convict the killer. ''Prosecutors introduced letters, poems and other writings, rife with violent images, that detailed Doty's beliefs in a religion he created that blends Satanism and white supremacy. They also used physical evidence to link Doty to the murder weapon.''

Not only has Doty murdered our friend Grady Towers, he is also ''facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Robyn Hay, an eegee's manager found slain six days after Towers' death; and the April 9, 2000, death of Joseph McDowell, who died when Doty, fleeing deputies, wrecked his car. ''

This man has now been 'judged by his deeds'. I hope he gets the death penalty.

 

January 20, 2002

"Still, I Want A Happy Ending"

Hedwig And The Angry Inch (East Berlin 'girl', meets American military man, falls in love. He finances her operation, but the operation is screwed up, leaving Hedwig with an 'angry inch'. Military man dumps her in a crappy trailer in the middle of wasteland Kansas. From there, she forms a music band.)

I was reminded of the lonely way Quentin Crisp ended his first autobiography, The Naked Civil Servant. Hedwig/Hansel exits, naked, down a long, lonely street. S/he exits, but devoid of pretty hair, wig having been shed earlier, just naked flesh, and he/r 'angry inch' left visable, if there had been any onlookers.

Too lonely, the end. ''Like watching a train wreck,'' Laura said, midway through it, grinning. ''Mindblowing,'' Julia said, after it was over. There you have it, two gen-u-wine transgendered people, minds blown, watching the loud presentation, entertaining nonetheless. It was interesting. The main character possesses a really fine voice. ''Reminds me of Georgie Jessup,'' Laura said. Georgie is a transgendered singer on the east coast, singing with a deep baritone voice. Julia met Georgie, when she used to live in Maryland, and we've talked to Georgie on the phone a few times.

Of course, there was admonishment at the movie's end, 'not based on any real characters'. Julia wanted to wax lengthy, saying the movie was just about gender concepts, and that no transsexual would be like Hedwig/Hansel. Maybe. The animated drawings were cute, with their imagined beginnings of a world with people, comprised of two heads, four arms, four legs, until the mean gods went and split them apart, making them all lonely and incomplete.

Still, I have enough with this one head, etc. But I am not lonely, and I have love. It's a vividly thought provoking show. I wish it had ended happier. But life doesn't always end happy. Still, I want a happy end for Hedwig. At least s/he should grow he/r own long, pretty hair.

Got to have the hair, you know.

 

January 26, 2002

"Happy Ending"

The end of the work week has arrived, and that's always happy. Let's see, what has happened HAPPY this week? Laura has found one good doctor here, and has an appointment to see another. I had a hunch about one who had an ad in a section that came with the newspaper. He, besides knowing internal medicine, has done a lot of study with lung related troubles. Laura always worries that her transsexuality will not be properly understood. I thought this man would, as he is Indian (from India). They know about gender-blends there, having the Hijra there, which have an unbroken history, right from the time of the Goddess religions. And his photo showed him to have kind eyes. My hunch proved correct and soon Laura will meet with a doctor he recommended for her primary care physician.

Not only that, Julia's been making progress in her job search, having two successful TESTs behind her, a grade of 71 out of a possible 73 on one and a decent score on another, a typing test. They seem confident a place will be found for her.

Cynthia visited us with 'our' granddaughter. Too bad the little tyke had a cold in the morning the next day, but Sam's a giggly, gurgly happy baby most of the time. She's got the biggest, bluest eyes.

Yesterday, I saw a bunny rabbit cross my path while walking up the path to work. It's not an especially rural area, so it was a surprise. But, boy, did that little fellow dart quickly across the yellow field!

And we got a new broom at work! When I picked up the old one, I was surprised to discover its bottom was clogged with a furry mess. I exclaimed over its sorry state, and another co-worker went out and got a brand new broom. We even got boxes of new, shiny strong pins that won't bend easily.

Although I haven't written much this week, I did create a couple of fun pages for the TPILB-Project The idea of having an intentionally blank page seemed like a lark at first, but then I waxed rather philosophical about it. I chose the most relaxing, serene, quiet colors I could for this.

And now the weekend awaits. We have some idea of what we're going to do with it. There's a lettuce festival in Old Town and a movie Laura wants to see. There's a quilt show, too, if we can fit it all in.

January 27, 2002 "It's Good To Laugh" later, that swimming pool size bowl will be totally full (the Main Street Cinema is behind them) Yuma is the 'winter lettuce capitol of the world'. You can't miss learning this fact if you travel even just briefly through the city, on route to somewhere else, for big bulletin boards proudly announce this fact. Another way this is celebrated is through the annual Lettuce Days festival. The announcer on the radio said this year's Lettuce Days event of attempting to make the world's largest salad would be covered by major news stations. The cameras would be out there early, starting at five in the morning. We didn't get there THAT early, closer to nine o'clock. Salad production was well under way, though. Not only were these two people in the picture above, okay the man is only observing, as just the arm of the other mixer is visible, mixing the lettuce with rakes, there was an army of people washing lettuce and tearing it into small pieces. Later, that swimming pool size bowl would be totally full. At nine o'clock, however, all the other booths were just getting set up. There were quite a few food vendors. Some had just put their large beef slabs on the grills, and I could only imagine how tasty they'd be an hour or so later. We walked along the sidewalks of Old Town, observing the craft vendors setting up their booths. There were a good number of them, as well. It was still chilly in the morning, so we didn't stay too long. Julia was starting to come down with a sore throat, and wanted to go home and rest. Had she gotten a bug from little Sam, who was sick when she and her Mother visited a few days ago? Julia hadn't had much contact with anyone else, and the timing seemed likely. She's still abed this morning, after going to bed early last night, all soothed with chewable vitamin C tablets, throat lozenges and a hot toddy, whiskey included. Julia was in no shape to go with me to the quilt show Saturday morning, so Laura set aside her computer game and went with me. The many beautiful quilts reminded her of her grandmother, who had had some able skill with stitchery. I was really impressed with the beautiful creations, and I gave the camera a good workout. Naturally, I added another section to my Adventures in Arizona site. Laura and I also had a brief visit in the afternoon with the local chess club. She played one game with a member, who had a special flexible chess sheet with a large grid and large, nicely weighted pieces. He'd gone to San Diego to get them. No doubt these were found at that colorful Horton's plaze we visited on our past trips there. We suspect this, for we remember a lovely game shop there where we had bought a similar flexible sheet for Go, and matching high quality go beads. She and the man had a fairly even game, the piles of captured pieces were about even, until Laura got fenced in and admitted defeat. She wants to study more before the next meeting. Laura and I even played a few games last night. Oh no, we didn't stay up late at this, for we got those games finished in about a half hour! I, not being keen to such strategy, proved easy meat. In one game, Laura checkmated me in six moves, and another it only took her four, until I was staring at the board, dumbfounded, scratching my head, how'd THAT happen? I laughed a lot, though. It's good to laugh. Another thing gave me a chuckle this morning. Laura recalled an odd dream she had, which brought to mind an odd dream I had. For some reason, I was with Gramma, never mind she's dead now, since 1998, at her fundamentalist Christian church, never mind I'd not likely go THERE, again. Things weren't business as usual, however. Several beautiful young women were there. They weren't dressed for Sunday morning church, though. Possibly, their dresses would qualify for some actor's award show. But maybe even for such a 'worldly' event as that, their dresses would be too risqué. Those ladies put on a show of their own, they did, right in front of all those uber-sober folks. The necklines of their dresses each had extremely low drapes in front. So low, that the young ladies did not have to bend forward very far at all for their perfect young perky breasts to be entirely revealed. I gasped, upon their revelations, and declared, ''If this is what I get in the fundy church, will I get FULL FRONTAL NUDITY in the liberal church?'' I laughed, telling Laura and Julia, now awake, about it. It's good to laugh.

 

January 29 , 2002

"Not A Plastic Surgeon"

The dream mentioned in the last entry did end on a more sober note. The entire church had a special session on 'appropriate dress', complete with large drawn illustrations of various outfits, and discussions of why they were appropriate or inappropriate. I spoke up for a very short skirt that came with matching shorts, because it came with matching shorts.

This dream might have been inspired by learning that those in the military must dress according to approved standards, even when off duty. Earrings for men are forbidden, as well as mini-skirts for women. Oh, my, but the mini skirts would REALLY be disproved of for men! Why, even Klinger (from the Mash TV show) never wore mini skirts!

Well, you have to laugh. No, you don't HAVE to, life's just more fun if you do.

You might laugh at the following scene. Imagine this: A young man comes into a tailor shop. He is thin, but possessed of a rather large backside. He tries on a jacket and complains to the fitter that ''his BOOTY is too big.'' The fitter assures him this is perfectly all right. He complains AGAIN that ''his BOOTY is too big.'' AGAIN, the fitter assures him that there is nothing wrong with that. The young man is very upset by this time. ''I'm telling you Ma'am, my BOOTY is TOO BIG!!'' The fitter laughs, ''I'm only a TAILOR, I'm not a PLASTIC SURGEON!'' The seamstress, busy at her sewing machine, who ordinarily minds her own business, too, cannot contain her laughter and howls out loud with it.

The poor man! The fitter does realize the fit of the jacket is exacerbating the problem, so she marks the jacket for letting out the waist, so the wider skirt portion of the jacket isn't so pronounced. Finally, the man's consternation is assauged some, and he leaves more content.

 

January 31, 2002 - A

"Nasty Bug"

It's an odd, restless night in the Lansberry household. I woke about two o'clock for the middle of the night pee, and Laura soon followed. Julia was awake, hacking her poor head off. WHAT DID THAT BABY HAVE? It's some virulant thing Julia caught from little Sam. Sammy's father, Anton, also has the same nasty bug.

Laura made a middle of the night run to Walgreens to get some cold medicine for Julia. I don't hear her coughing as much, so it's done some good.

Laura may not have the bug herself, but her sinuses seem to be bothering her, and she's coughing occasionally. She's taking some 'ocean' spray, a salt water mix, to see if it helps.

After she finishes a transaction on the 'Everquest' computer game, and checks her email, she will go to bed. I've already done my own email pruning. Hotmail is terrible for spam. Each time I go down the list, and tick the spam, then mass delete them. Today, out of fifty one emails, only three were any good!

I should go back to bed myself, tomorrow will be a rough day if I don't.

 

January 31, 2002 - B

"Chess Pieces"

Not so much words tonight, just a picture of the chess pieces on our coffee table. I liked the way the light was hitting them, and tried to capture an unusual perspective. Follow the link!